In October 1934, Helen Morgan filmed her numbers for SWEET MUSIC at something called I B C Studios. I don't know if this was something actually owned/controlled by WB/First National or if they rented out independent space.

Anyone here have any history on this entity? Is it still extant in any way/shape/form?

christopher connelly wrote:I don't *think* I've asked this question before on this forum:

In October 1934, Helen Morgan filmed her numbers for SWEET MUSIC at something called I B C Studios. I don't know if this was something actually owned/controlled by WB/First National or if they rented out independent space.

Anyone here have any history on this entity? Is it still extant in any way/shape/form?

Are you positive? Because it sounds like Morgan was still on the East Coast doing Radio and Warners shot her audition there. Vallee was still in New York until just before shooting started, and obviously something happened that cut Morgan's part from apparently the engenue to basically a guest spot. Her number in SWEET MUSIC could have been shot in New York just a easily in New York as Los Angeles, and if she did shoot it in Los Angeles, they would have just shot it in Burbank at the Warners Studios, there would have been no reason to rent other studio space to shoot it.

Can you post the blurb that says she shot her part at the IBC Studios?

Richard M Roberts wrote:Are you positive? Because it sounds like Morgan was still on the East Coast doing Radio and Warners shot her audition there. Vallee was still in New York until just before shooting started, and obviously something happened that cut Morgan's part from apparently the engenue to basically a guest spot. Her number in SWEET MUSIC could have been shot in New York just a easily in New York as Los Angeles, and if she did shoot it in Los Angeles, they would have just shot it in Burbank at the Warners Studios, there would have been no reason to rent other studio space to shoot it.

Can you post the blurb that says she shot her part at the IBC Studios?

After she shot MARIE GALANTE, she went east for club dates and returned in mid-October specifically to shoot SWEET MUSIC and start her Warners contract.

She appeared on Rudy Vallee's radio show - from LA - on November 15, ran to the Warners studio on December 4 and helped distribute coffee and water to the those fighting the studio fire, and recorded for Brunswick - in LA - on December 5. During the holidays she shot GO INTO YOUR DANCE on the Warners lot before heading to Florida for club dates. Waiting for her in Florida was word that she had been released from her Warners contract.

As for the SWEET MUSIC shoot, I culled the location from the daily shooting memos from the Warners archive. It *very* clearly states I.B.C. and that she shot on October 30-31, 1934. Note that Rudy Vallee was also in the scene. In addition to shooting the rest of SWEET MUSIC on the Warners lot at the time, he also had his weekly radio show. It would have made more sense to have Morgan work in LA than have Vallee head east to film one short scene. Especially when you consider that Morgan wasn't working any club east of the Mississippi from early October 1934 until late January 1935.

After she shot MARIE GALANTE, she went east for club dates and returned in mid-October specifically to shoot SWEET MUSIC and start her Warners contract.

She appeared on Rudy Vallee's radio show - from LA - on November 15, ran to the Warners studio on December 4 and helped distribute coffee and water to the those fighting the studio fire, and recorded for Brunswick - in LA - on December 5. During the holidays she shot GO INTO YOUR DANCE on the Warners lot before heading to Florida for club dates. Waiting for her in Florida was word that she had been released from her Warners contract.

As for the SWEET MUSIC shoot, I culled the location from the daily shooting memos from the Warners archive. It *very* clearly states I.B.C. and that she shot on October 30-31, 1934. Note that Rudy Vallee was also in the scene. In addition to shooting the rest of SWEET MUSIC on the Warners lot at the time, he also had his weekly radio show. It would have made more sense to have Morgan work in LA than have Vallee head east to film one short scene. Especially when you consider that Morgan wasn't working any club east of the Mississippi from early October 1934 until late January 1935.

Maybe I.B.C. was a radio station?

Indeed, it may have been a radio station, in fact, it may have been NBC, especially if you got the blurb off lantern, whose search engine has a bad tendency to sometimes read the "N's" as "I"'s, especially if the scan of the page has the initials on the bend of the spine.

There was also an IBC in New York, which stood for a broadcasting conglomerate that owned a number of radio stations in the Midwest and had offices in New York, but I haven't found nor ever heard of any example of an IBC Film Studios in Hollywood, nor does it make sense for Warners to have rented any more studio space in Hollywood to shoot her scenes.

Richard M Roberts wrote:Indeed, it may have been a radio station, in fact, it may have been NBC, especially if you got the blurb off lantern, whose search engine has a bad tendency to sometimes read the "N's" as "I"'s, especially if the scan of the page has the initials on the bend of the spine.

There was also an IBC in New York, which stood for a broadcasting conglomerate that owned a number of radio stations in the Midwest and had offices in New York, but I haven't found nor ever heard of any example of an IBC Film Studios in Hollywood, nor does it make sense for Warners to have rented any more studio space in Hollywood to shoot her scenes.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

fwiw, this confusion did not come from Lantern, but from a trip to the Warners archive at USC and a search of the daily memos for the production. As they are carbons, it's possible that 'I' was intended to be an 'N'.

Thanks to Joan Myers. She verified there is no IBC studio in the LA Directory in 1934. In addition, with her help, I have verified the Vallee Fleishman Hour broadcast from November 15, 1934 came from KFA, which (caveat emptor - according to Wikipedia) was the NBC-Red affiliate. the KFA studio at the time was located in Burbank near the Warners studio.

So maybe Warners chose to use a real nearby radio station to film the scene rather than build a set on the lot - or maybe it was early product placement - or some sort of in-joke - or a way to make vallee's multitasking of prepping his weekly radio show with his shooting schedule for SWEET MUSIC.

I need to watch the film again to see if the call letters or any other information can be spied.

My reward for jumping down this rabbit hole: that November 1934 radio broadcast survives (as well as another Morgan Vallee appearance) - copies are in the process of being procured.